David-Tabatadze © http://champion.kanalukraina.tv

MIddleweight Sammy Gonzalez had to rally from an early deficit to stop David Tabatadze in the sixth and final round before a sellout crowd of 1,434 inside the Hangar at the Oranga County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, CA. It was all Tabatadze (9-2-1, 1 KO) in the first half of the fight as the Ukrainian southpaw landed counter right hooks and left crosses to the head and body of Gonzalez. Tabatadze slowed down in the fourth due to Gonzalez landing hard shots to the body. Tabatadze came back in the fifth round, but was stunned in the final moments of the round by a Gonzalez left hook to the head. Gonzalez (8-0-1, 4 KO’s) went on the attack from the opening bell, stunning Tabatadze at times with a barrage of punches. After Gonzalez landed a right hand to the head, referee David Mendoza saw enough and stopped the bout at 1:14. Entering the final round, Tabatadze was ahead on two judges’ scorecards (48-47 and 49-46), while Gonzalez was up 49-46 on the third scorecard. Fightnews.com had Tabatadze up 48-47 entering the sixth round. Roy Englebrecht promoted the six-bout boxing/ mixed martial arts card. Ring announcer was Mike Hart.

Junior lightweight Ricardo Garcia knocked out Ricardo Cubias in the second round of a scheduled four round bout. Both fighters stunned one another in the first round, each landing a counter right hand to the head. Both fighters loaded up with hooks and crosses in the second round. After Cubias missed with a punch, Garcia (3-2, 1 KO) landed a counter left hook to the head, dropping the late sub to the canvas. Cubias (0-3) stood up at the count of nine, but was in no condition to continue, prompting referee David Mendoza to stop the bout at 53 seconds. Garcia hails from La Habra, while Cubias fights out of Riverside.

Middleweight John Worthy won a lackluster four round unanimous decision over Steven Ma. Both fighters fought mostly in the pocket, where Worthy (1-1) was able to land with short right hands to the head. Ma (0-2) threw punches, but would miss badly at times, allowing Worthy to counter. All three judges scored the bout 40-35 in favor of Worthy.

In a battle of junior lightweights making their professional debuts, Oscar Diaz overcame a second round knockdown to win a four round split decision over Osman Rivera. The southpaw Diaz controlled the first round, but was dropped by a straight counter right by Rivera in the second. Diaz recovered and both fighters had their moments in the final two rounds. Diaz, who is trained by Robert Garcia, landed the harder punches during the second half of the fight to swing momentum back in his favor. One judge scored the bout 39-36 in favor of Rivera, while the other two judges scored the bout 38-37 for Diaz.

fightnews.com